Doors of Pharos

I'm nearing the end of the game and am taking time to go over the area's again. There are so many of them, I actually don't know which one goes over to which and such. It's useful for figuring out how I want to do my second playthrough. I definitely want a nice weapon a lot earlier though. Been using the Fire Longsword for at least 70% of the game until I got a Blacksteel Katana drop.

Anyway, one area I'm also revisiting is Doors of Pharos. Now, am I missing something or is it just an area for the Rat covenant and invasions? There is nothing of value there as far as I can tell? So if I'm not interested in PvP (at least not constantly), there is no point to be there right? I know you can grind Lockstones there, but besides that?

Just making sure I'm not missing something cool.

Yeah there's an optional boss back there if you do a bit of exploring. I don't remember having to use any lockstones to get to it, but I can't remember for sure.

There's a boss, and some items, but the path ends there. It's a PvP area, basically.

@sunbrozak: Yeah quite a few of those I noticed. Almost all of them guarded by bosses too.

so yea, fuck that area. Also the door with three sections, you can go inside if you just open the bottom one. DON'T OPEN ALL THREE SECTIONS LIKE ME!

I got my sweat axethatkillseverything there. That thing rips into any enemy or boss that isn't heavily armored with A scaling in strength. I love it.

Dude's right, there are some pretty sweet drops to be had there, but fuck that stupid rat covenant.

So, I had what I assume is a glitch here. All the item and chest spawns reset on me and the rooms I had opened with Lockstones were closed again. I don't mind so much, because a bunch of the items that respawned were upgrade items.

The only boss I can not solo in this game (so far) is in this area. That damn giant rat dog. I hate that thing.

@sterling said:

I had trouble with him as well, until I figured that just staying underneath him made it very easy to dodge most of his attacks.

@shinjin977: If you turn off the PS3 quickly you can save those lockstones.

@sterling: You just have to be super aggressive with the Rats, after that it's pretty easy but his hitbox is weird so sometimes you'll get hit even if you're not close to where you think he's going. That bodycheck move is pretty amazing though, truly an act of authority.

The lockstones make the area harder. It's a rat covenant thing....basically you just unlock traps . There're items, but it's not really worth the price of a lockstone.

So basically, only use them if you are part of the covenant.

@cale: I can't even get under him long enough to attack. He jumps away as soon as I get there. I should probably try without lock on.

Yeah, its basically the Sif fight all over again. I just beat him on my 2nd try. Warning to the wise he vomits acid that will break your gear when you get him to 10% health. He broke nearly 20k worth of stuff for me the bastard.